You Smell
by Yohko no Gothika
Summary: Shikamaru and Naruto are going to the annual Konoha Academy ball as dates, and our little blonde idiot decides to give his boyfriend a few troublesome tips on how to freshen up. [shonen-ai -- one shot]


**Title:**You Smell

**Author:** Yohko no Gothika

**Genre:** Naruto

**Sub-Genre:** Romance/Comedy

**Summary:** Shikamaru and Naruto are going to the annual Konoha Academy ball as dates, and our little blonde idiot decides to give his boyfriend a few troublesome tips on how to freshen up. shonen-ai one shot

**Pairings:** ShikaNaru, various hints at others

**Rated: PG** for some suggestive sexual content

**Warning: **Shonen-ai, and suggested shoujo-ai. Don't like, don't read, don't flame.

**Disclaimer: Copyright Yohko no Gothika, 2005. All rights reserved.**

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**You Smell

_by Yohko no Gothika_

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I figured I might as well get there early. The Annual Konoha Academy Ball only comes around once a year, you know. (That's why it's called _annual_, stupid!) And only once in a lifetime for anybody who's invited to it. Sure, there are those of us that sneak in every year, just because there's no one to keep us out, but you're only invited under very special, one-time circumstances. And, of course, I was ready. It's not as if I was looking the best I possibly could've, but Shikamaru's living off his parents. I figured the state of his wallet would be better than mine, give me a wider range of things to choose from.

I scaled the fence into his backyard without much difficulty, careful for once of my clothing. I had gotten special permission from Tsunade-baachan about a week-and-a-half ago to go on a special mission to the Sand Village and get some fashion tips from Temari. You remember her; Gaa-chan's older sister? Yeah. She'd lent me a whole bunch of his stuff (of course asking beforehand if he mindedhe didn't. Isn't Gaa-chan sweet?) and told me how to put it all on right. A fishnet shirt with no cover in the front beneath an ebony jacket that was unzipped to the mid-chest; nylon, thigh-high socks with several rips and tears in the fabric around the knees and calves; a pair of onyx-colored, baggy shorts that were tied with cords at the thigh; my hitai-ate now doubled as a belt, strung about my small waist along with several chains that clinked and clanked together as I moved around, leaving my bangs to sprawl wildly about my face. My zori were the only part of my outfit remaining untouched. Temari had even insisted on my wearing glossy black nail polish on my fingers.

I swear, Iruka-sensei had nearly had an aneurism when I ran into him earlier on my way over here.

I knocked lightly on the window as an automatic reflex ad pushed it open, clambering in as I always did without waiting for a response. I never did any more. Our visitations of one another's apartments were becoming more and more frequent now that we were officially seen as lovers by our own small posses. Shika-chan's parents didn't know yet, his mom being our simple reason for avoiding being seen together in public.

This night, of course, was an exception.

It was his idea, at first. The message was circulated via mail around the town to all the previous-years Genin graduates as a sort of uniform way of congratulating us all. Everyone was asking everybody else. Sakura-chan got snatched up by Ino within the first morning of the invites being distributed; Sasuke-teme was next to go, nabbed by Neji (who'd have guessed?); Lee and TenTen decided to go with one another, just for the heck of it; Kiba finally got up the nerve to ask Hinata-chan out on a date (you would've thought he was proposing or something!). It wasn't long before everyone was asking everyone else, and you either said yes or you were already taken.

Shikamaru just seemed to sleep through it all, but I know him better. He's always paying attention, that guy. My guy. And so it didn't really surprise me when he just said it one day, when we were out, lying side by side in the grass, watching the clouds roll by in the blue, caressed by the wind.

He had blushed slightly, just looked me straight in the eye, and said it in the bored tone he always uses when he's embarrassed over something. "So...you want to go to that Ball-thing with me?"

"Who else would I go with!" I had kyaaed as I embraced him around the neck, right there in the meadow, the tingly feeling of giddiness fanning out from my stomach and enveloping me as a whole. He had made that cute little 'I-don't-care' pout he always made as he wrapped his arms around my waist in a begrudging manner, cocking his head to the side. "How bothersome," he mumbled quietly, nuzzling my neck, commenting on my yell and the way I had of glomping him whenever he said anything of even partial significance to me.

I had just laughed then, giggly and gleeful.

He looked over at me now from where he was putting on a starched white shirt in front of the mirror, and raised an eyebrow with that said same pout he had had on that day. I couldn't help but laugh in the same way I had then, the wide grin spreading across my face, cutting deep into my cheeks.

"So happy to see me, Shika-chan?"

"You could've knocked."

"I did. You just didn't hear it 'cuz of the music," I said matter-of-factly, jabbing a thumb towards his clock radio which was playing a Beatles hit, the other on my bony hip. "And besides, I'm here for your benefit."

He gave me a sarcastic stare that said for certain I must be joking.

"I'm serious!" I said, arguing against words that had yet to be spoken. "I'm here to help you get ready."

He looked over my outfit for a few minutes, inspecting it with his dark eyes, before glancing back up at my and then back into the mirror to play at his buttons. "How bothersome," he muttered, closing the gap between his collarbone and his bare stomach another pearly button's worth. I reached around him to help the next one, knowing I could probably get it done in faster, using the reflection to guide the rest of them through their designated fastenings, my head hanging over his shoulder as he watched me.

When I was finished I pecked him lightly on the cheek, and turned away quickly, smirking despite myself at the gorgeous blush that graced his face then.

I'd been poking around his vanity cupboard in the bathroom adjoining his bedroom, for a while before he came up to watch. "What are you doing?" he asked finally, after yet a few _more_ minutes of my rifling through various cosmetic supplies and strewing about the tidy, well-kempt floor. We both new he would get in trouble were anyone to see his room this way Shika-chan _never_ gets anything dirty, like, ever but that wasn't really what I was worried about at the moment. Bottles of things that had no present relevance were tossed aside, and I ignored my thirteen-year-old koibito in the prospect of what I so fancied. No. That wasn't it. Nope. Nuh-uh. Jeez, where was that

Aha!

I held the deodorant up, waving it in Shikamaru's face as if it were the cure for cancer. "Found it!" I cheered, shoving it into his hands as I darted back towards the floor, looking through all the beauty supplies with delight. I felt my grin growing wider as I organized them all in my own way (yes, I can so organize things!), putting whatever I had neither mind nor reason to use back in the cabinet.

I looked up in the midst of putting the lubricant (heh, I was pretty surprised he even had that really, I can't _wait_ until we're 18) back where it belonged, noticing that Shikamaru hadn't moved from where he'd been standing the moment I gave him the thing of Speed Stick.

"What?" I said, watching him curiously. "Put it on."

I turned back to my 'work' while he dragged up the edges of his blue-white cocktail shirt, applying the stuff to his underarms with a soft grunt of "How bothersome," in my general direction.

I made the conscious decision to ignore him for the time being.

Making my selection of hair care products, I assembled them in a sort of semi-circle on the counter and dragged him in by the as he was tucking in his shirt, seating him on the toilet so he was shorter than me. "I'm going to do your hair!" I announced proudly, not giving him time to think as I undid the rubber band hold up his locks of sweet chocolate. I could feel the piercing look he was giving (and caught almost full-brunt of it in the bathroom mirror) but was feeling much too tolerant at the moment.

We were going to the Konoha Academy Annual Ball for Goodness' Sake! Of course I was excited!

I set to work on his shoulder-length tresses with a fine-tooth comb and taking the opportunity to breath in its scent, full and deep. "Mm...you took a shower before I got here!" I said, still tugging the comb through it all, my nose just above his ear. I felt him blush and mumble something like "why does it matter?" before emerging from his silky tresses, looking over my handy work and deciding it way done.

I made another trip to the counter and coated my hands with gel, running my fingers through the roots of his hair to make it loosen a little more fully from his head. I basked in the sensation I got from teasing him in such a manner, reveling in the fierce flushing of his cheeks.

It didn't take long before I felt satisfied with it (Shika-chan's so pretty anyway!), and made one last trip to squirt a bit of cologne on my wrist. I rubbed it around thoroughly until it was a thinly-layered coat indeed and then dabbed a bit of it just below the junction of his chin and his neck. The thick, enticing smell of cinnamon reached my nostrils and I was in heaven.

"Okay," I smiled down at him, feeling accomplished.

He got up to go stare at himself in the mirror and I embraced him from behind, wrapping my arms around his neck possessively, watching his expressions over his shoulder. "So?" I said finally. "Do you like it?"

"It's...okay..." he said, his embarrassed pout back in place.

I grinned now, knowing I'd done good. Just coaxing a compliment out of Shika-chan is difficult, even if you're aware that he's madly in love with you. I think he finds it hard to express his feelings.

I giggled into his ear. "I'm glad you like it."

He wrinkled his nose and I looked at him closely. "What?"

"It's you," he said disdainfully. "You smell."

"What!"

"You do. It's that cologne, I don't like it."

"There's more on you than on me!"

"Ick. Then I smell too."

"Yeah," I said, suddenly breaking into laugher as he turned to face me and embracing him tight around the waist, nose still quirked slightly. "You smell."

And I love you anyway.

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Heh. Wow, that was fun! I did this in response to my own fanfiction challenge you can view it by going to www(dot)geocities(dot)com(slash)rodentia772(slash)index.html, or just following the homepage link in my user lookup) and it gave me giggles. I've never written a ShikaNaru **or** a one-shot before, and it made me real happy. Yay for me! Please review, if you can. 


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